Battle of Chicago
The Battle of Chicago was one of the critical battles of the Race Invasion, wherein the United States was able to hold the Race (at great cost to both sides), until the U.S. was able to deploy its first atomic bomb, thus insuring its own independence. Before the Battle When the Race's Conquest Fleet came to Earth, the human powers who had been fighting each other had to combine their resources for their own survival. Early in their invasion, the Race targeted Chicago, where the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago was in the early stages of developing an atomic bomb. Physicist Jens Larssen convinced General George Marshall of Chicago's importance. Marshall issued orders that Chicago must be held at all costs. The generals on the ground, George Patton and Omar Bradley, began preparations for a surprise attack. Equipment and material was moved at night and then carefully camouflaged. The Americans also realized that the Lizards, as reptiles, were ill-equipped for the winter. With winter pending, Patton was planned to encircle the Race forces attacking Chicago. To do that, he had to conduct a mass thrust in the Race lines and link up with Bradley's forces. The Battle: Patton's Initial Drive The attack began with a massive artillery bombardment. US Army shifted its artillery positions as the Race was able to return fire and destroy them if they stayed in the same place. Under the cover of the bombardment, tanks advanced. While American armor was inferior to the Race's Landcruisers, the Americans field more tanks than the Race could. Moreover, the Landcruiser drivers, who were not trained to regard Infantry as a threat, found themselves menaced by soldiers with bazookas. Air-support also proved critical. Again, while the Race possessed more advanced Killercraft, the American fighters were enough of a threat that the Race did not send hauler aircraft to supply the forces with more Landcruisers. Hopelessly outnumbered, the Race retreated. The Race Counter-offensive The Race front was pushed back halfway across the state of Illinois as a result of the Patton-Bradley offensive. However, the Race began another advance, making Chicago the primary front of the Race's invasion of the United States. They gradually pushed the Americans back out of the city limits, but their progress was so slow and costly due to intense house to house combat, especially once they entered the city. When Atvar promised Cordell Hull that his infantrymales would reach Lake Michigan, Hull retorted "Some will, but how many won't?" When the US's first atomic bomb was ready, American soldiers buried the bomb under their position and withdrew from the city. When the Race took possession of the field, the US detonated the bomb by a radio transmitter, destroying much of the city and a substantial number of Race males and their equipment. With that, the Battle of the Chicago ended, with a US victory, at a horrific price. In popular culture The battle was dramatized in a fairly inaccurate movie released in 1964. Chicago